Chapter 17
She appeared in a simple white dress, hair loosely pinned, serene and radiant like a figure from memory–yet unmistakably changed.
The moment she saw the two men at the entrance, her steps faltered slightly–then she walked directly toward Ethan.
“Ethan, have you been waiting long?” she asked softly, her eyes warm.
Ethan gave her a gentle smile and draped the jacket over her shoulders. “Just got here.”
Natalie nodded, then finally turned to Colton, her gaze distant. “Mr. Blackwood, is there something
else you
need?”
Colton’s heart clenched violently.
Mr. Blackwood?
The woman who once loved him with her entire world now looked at him as though he were a
stranger.
He opened his mouth, struggling to speak. “Natalie, can we please talk-”
“There’s no need,” she cut him off calmly. “I’ve already said everything that needed to be said.”
Colton’s eyes reddened. “Natalie, I know I hurt you. Just give me a chance-”
“Colton Blackwood,” she said his name softly but firmly, “the Natalie you knew died a long time ago.”
“The person standing here has nothing to do with you.”
Colton felt like someone had driven a stake through his chest. He couldn’t breathe.
At that moment, a sleek black car pulled up at the curb. General Sinclair and Mrs. Sinclair stepped out in a rush, visibly shaken.
“Natalie!” Elizabeth Sinclair cried, her voice trembling as tears welled up in her eyes. “It’s really you. You’re alive!”
Natalie’s expression stiffened ever so slightly..
Richard Sinclair came forward, voice thick with emotion. “Natalie, we’ve been trying to find you all
these years…”
“)
Natalie instinctively stepped back and reached for Ethan’s hand.
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Ethan tightened his grip around hers, silently offering his support.
“General. Mrs. Sinclair,” she said steadily, “you must be mistaken. I’m not who you think I am.”
Elizabeth’s tears spilled down her cheeks. “Natalie, I know we were wrong. We failed you–”
Richard’s voice cracked. “Please come home, sweetheart. We’ve missed you… more than you could
ever know.”
Natalie looked at them, her gaze
clouded.
She had longed for their love once–desperately.
But when Clarissa repeatedly hurt her and they turned a blind eye…
When Colton abandoned her to the flames…
When she lay broken and dying in a hospital bed, completely alone…
Where were they?
She closed her eyes. And when she opened them again, they were calm and resolute.
“I’m sorry,” she said evenly. “But I no longer have parents.” “The moment you turned your backs
on me, I stopped calling you family.”
Elizabeth looked as if she’d been struck by lightning. She stumbled back, barely keeping her
balance.
Richard’s face turned ashen. He tried to speak, but no sound came out.
Colton stepped forward, voice raw, “Natalie, they’ve been living with regret every day-”
“Regret?” Natalie let out a soft, bitter laugh. “Regret doesn’t fix anything.”
She no longer looked at any of them. She simply turned to Ethan and said, “Let’s go.”
Ethan nodded, wrapped an arm around her shoulders, and walked away with her.
Colton instinctively took a step forward, but Richard raised a hand to stop him.
“Let it
go…”
.” he said hoarsely, his voice trembling. “We… we failed her.”
Colton stood rooted in place, watching as Natalie and Ethan disappeared into the golden light of
sunset.
Their shadows stretched long beneath the setting sun–intertwined, untouchable.
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And he he had become nothing more than a stranger outside the frame.
He stopped reaching for her–but never stopped watching.
Every performance, every spotlight she stepped into, he was there. Hidden in the shadows,
watching her shine.
Richard and Elizabeth would sometimes bring Joey to the outskirts of her world–watching from
afar, haunted by what they’d lost.
Natalie’s life with Ethan was peaceful. Steady. Filled with quiet joy.
Until one day-
Clarissa Sinclair was released from prison.
She stood at the gates of the Sinclair estate, her eyes ice–cold.
Five years behind bars had left her thinner, her once–beautiful face sharp and mean.
She pushed open the door and walked straight into the living room.
Joey sat quietly on the sofa, stacking colorful blocks with childlike focus–until chaos stormed through the door.
Clarissa stormed forward and snatched the boy into her arms.
“Joey!” Clarissa cried, sweeping him into her arms. “Mommy’s home!”
The child screamed in terror, struggling wildly in her grasp.
“Let me go! You’re not my mommy!”
Clarissa’s face twisted, but she smiled with a vicious edge. “Silly little thing… I’m your real
mother.”
The nanny, panicking, tried to intervene–but Clarissa shoved her away.
“Out of my way! He’s my son–I’m taking him, and no one’s stopping me!‘
Richard and Elizabeth arrived in a rush.
“Clarissa?!” Elizabeth’s face went pale. “What are you doing here?!”
Clarissa sneered. “What, I’m not allowed to come home now?”
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She clutched Joey tighter as the boy sobbed uncontrollably in her arms.
“Put him down!” Richard thundered.
Clarissa didn’t flinch. Her eyes burned with hatred. “Now you want to play the good parents? Weren’t you the ones who sent me to prison?!”
“You tossed away your own grandson for that little witch Natalie!”
Elizabeth trembled with fury. “Clarissa, you nearly killed Natalie–and you still have the nerve to come back here?!”
“Nearly killed her?” Clarissa laughed maniacally. ” Alive and well, isn’t she? So why does it matter what I did?!”
Richard’s expression darkened. “You… you’ve seen her?”
Clarissa’s eyes narrowed, and in that moment, something clicked-
Natalie Sinclair wasn’t dead?
